British Red Cross Uses YouTube Stars to Reach Teenagers

According to the British Red Cross, 1 in 12 teenagers in Great Britain engage in self-harming behaviors. Across the country, 110,000 self-harm cases were reported at accident and emergency departments, and four out of 10 youth surveyed said they had self-harmed or knew someone who had self-harmed. These numbers were enough to make the British Red Cross launch a campaign targeted at teenagers. The challenge was breaking through to teens, who are bombarded with content on their devices.

The British Red Cross worked with a company called ChannelFlip to create original YouTube videos. Rather than reach out to mainstream celebrities to drive the message home, they instead chose to work with British YouTube stars. Together, the British Red Cross, ChanellFlip and these popular YouTubers created a set of videos tied to a central narrative based on a variety of different scenarios in which first aid could be life-saving for teenagers, including in cases of self-harm, choking, and passing out from alcohol consumption. The participating YouTube celebrities promoted these videos to their existing and broad fan base.

The campaign won several awards and generated 7.5 million views and over 50,000 comments. Ninety percent of individuals surveyed after watching the videos stated they felt more confident in their ability to help administer first aid. Connecting with the fans of YouTube stars vastly broadened the reach of the videos and engaged the target audience.